Why is Value-Added Support important?

Traditional support models are all insurance-based – the customer buys a support contract so he/she can rest assured that when something goes wrong it will be fixed in a timely way. Value-Added Support goes far beyond that. It adds value to the customer in two ways. As the graphic illustrates, Value-Added Support accelerates time-to-value for the customers, either with or without the professional services organization. This is seen along the horizontal axis.

Secondly, along the vertical axis, Value-Added Support increases the total value the customer receives from the product, to a level beyond what he/she expects at the time of purchase.

This is obviously very appealing to the customer. It means a faster return on investment, and a greater return on investment than was initially expected.

But this is also great news for the support organization, and enterprise as a whole, because with Value-Added Support, the customer actually consumes the product faster. This accelerates the time period prior to the customer re-entering the market for follow-on sales. In turn, that accelerates the follow-on sales business for every customer who receives Value-Added Support.

Add to that the fact that customers who receive more value than they expect are much more likely to purchase more units. This drives product and brand preference, and leads to market share gains.

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